Tuesday, 6 May 2014

The mysterious egg of Corfu

I was making the rounds of my pelargoniums out on the terrace this morning.

For the past few days, there has been the tell-tale sign of cat trying to scrabble in amongst the plants. But now, with plenty of souvlaki skewers sticking up bottomwards and a load of pepper put around the outside, it seems the cats have given the flowers a wide berth.

And then, today, deep within the terracotta planter I discovered this.

Here, have a closer look.

It was nestling in an egg-shaped indentation in the soil between two plants. But there were no visible signs of whatever it was that put it there.

No broken stems, no disturbed soil, nothing.

Just a big, fat, hard, speckled egg.

Mr Grigg put it in water to see if it floated. It didn't. It must be fresh then. Unless it's ceramic. But it doesn't feel like it.

It's too big and white to have come from any of the hens next door. And, besides, they've never, ever ventured over the wall. And it's too small to be from one of our neighbour's ducks, geese or turkeys.

After dismissing the fleeting thought that it could be a tortoise egg - too pointy and too large - or even a Balkan green lizard's egg - ugh - I have come up with the following conclusion:

We have a practical joker in the coop, a cuckoo in the nest.

I have narrowed it down to three suspects.

At least I hope I have. I daren't crack it open. You did see Jurassic Park, didn't you?